Sport

Ajmal Shahzad primed up for Test debut

It will be a quick rise for the fast-bowler, 24, who is in contention to get the nod against Bangladesh on Friday and was supposed to be working in medicine.

Luke Thornhill

June 02, 2010

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MANCHESTER, England // Ajmal Shazhad was never meant to be a cricketer. The fast-bowler, 24, who is in contention to make his Test debut for England against Bangladesh on Friday was supposed to be working in medicine. His career is not one based on hours of practice on the playing fields of his hometown of Huddersfield, instead when his friends were outside playing he was swotting up on his homework. "Education was the route for me, I was a smart lad - still am, I hope," he said. "I went to the University of Bradford and studied pharmacology, but I was travelling from Leeds and my cricket was in the way. "I didn't know how to balance the two, I then went to Leeds University to do sport performance coaching - I wanted something to fall back on in sport" Despite the sacrifices his father Mohammed, an accountant, made to put his son through private school he gave his blessing to Ajmal's decision to turn his back on academia during the third year of the course to focus on cricket. "He can come and sleep in the stands while I'm playing," joked Shazhad. "And hopefully I can now give him something back by playing for England. "I owe my dad massively, he put a lot of hard graft in." Shazhad was 12th man for England at Lord's last week, and he would be hoping to step up as Tim Bresnan has suffered a stress fracture to his left foot. That is not assured, with the more experienced Ryan Sidebottom added to the squad. Shazhad has played just 26 first-class games for Yorkshire in county cricket, but has taken 67 wickets in that time. It would be an impressive rise if he takes the field against Bangladesh. "I am ready to go if the nod is given and I'm looking forward to it," he said. "I know what I need to do and if it's not out there on Friday then I'll go back to Yorkshire. When my time comes I am confident I can grasp it and put a good performance in." He would hold no grudges if Sidebottom is picked instead and his role this weekend is limited to carrying the drinks again. "He is a very experienced bowler, he's tried and tested and if they want that they know what they are going to get," he said. "I am a fresh face. I can only put in the performances in the nets and wait and see what happens." lthornhill@thenational.ae

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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”

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